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International breakthrough for Havfront’s Loppa

Havfront’s Oddbjørn Gudmundsen and Marius Strømmen with one of the Loppa gutting and heading machinesA Loppa gutting and heading machine installed on board a fishing vessel. Image: HavfrontOne of Havfront’s technicians at work. Image: HavfrontThe Loppa heading and gutting machine is the most compact of its kind available and is ideal for smaller vessels. Image: Havfront

Norwegian company Havfront AS has revolutionised the gutting and deheading of fish on board fishing vessels with the world's smallest gutting and heading machine, the Loppa. Now the company has secured its first international contract in Greenland.

Havfront will supply two machines to Polar Raajat AS, which is part of Polar Seafood at the end of April this year.

‘Polar Seafood is one of the biggest players in the seafood industry in Greenland with a considerable fleet of vessels. For Havfront this contract is an important breakthrough internationally,’ said Havfront’s Marius Strømmen, commenting that Polar Raajat approached Havfront in January and decided that the Loppa is the best machine they could put on board two of their fishing vessels.

‘The reason why they chose Loppa is that the machine is small, compact and requires very little maintenance. Havfront appreciates their confidence in the machines and we look forward to installations in April/May.’

He explained that fishing for cod in Greenland is growing rapidly, and every fisherman they have spoken to has said that they prefer to gut their fish before landing.

‘The reception structure there means that the fisherman have to gut and head the fish before delivery to the buyer. Havfront has a product that is very much needed in Greenland. Having developed a machine that makes everyday life easier for fishermen is something we are proud of at Havfront.’

Eight machines in use, five on order

Havfront has experienced a greater demand since Nor-Fishing in Trondheim, where the company sold three machines during the exhibition, followed by five more.

‘By July we expect to have at least 13 Loppa machines in daily use. We are delighted that so many have taken on board the world's smallest gutting and heading machine, and in addition, they are very pleased with its efficiency and quality. The machine is built to be fitted on deck and is robust so that it can withstand both frost and seawater. We are in contact with everyone who uses the machine, and none of them have so far reported any complaints, and whenever there have been minor problems with the machine, we have been able to get these fixed or simply provided guidance over the phone on how to make the required adjustments,’ Marius Strømmen said, adding that the development of the Loppa began in 2014.

‘Havfront saw a need for a machine that could solve several challenges for the fishermen and vessel owners. Not only was it important to mechanise the gutting process in order to save the fishermen labour, it was also important to see if we could create a machine that could carry out several operations at once, optimising the process.’